Children are naturally curious. They are constantly asking questions and using their senses to find out more. A sense of wonder is the essence of science. Nurturing this natural sense of wonder in youth is key to science learning.

Scientific inquiry means using knowledge, imagination, reasoning, and life skills to actively develop science understanding. A set of scientific thinking and process skills has been developed to help us understand the skills that youth develop while doing science. These skills build on each other, each one inclusive of the prior one.

1. Observing: developing questions about the world based on observations
• seeing
• hearing
• tasting
• smelling
• feeling
2. Communicating: giving or sharing information and thoughts
• silent
• oral
• written
• with pictures
• questioning
3. Comparing and measuring: using measurement tools
• weight
• quantity
• quality
• capacity/volume
4. Ordering: putting objects or events in a sequence or series
• placing objects such as large to small, smooth to rough
• placing events on a time line
• Categorizing: putting objects or events in groups or classes
• putting objects or events together using a rationale
• sorting and grouping
• classifying
5. Relating: developing solutions to unfamiliar problems through thought, observation, and experiments.
• asking questions
• making guesses about why something is happening
• understanding the relationship between evidence and explanation
• designing and doing simple experiments
• being able to identify the control and things that change (variables) in an experiment
6. Inferring: concluding from reasoning and evidence
• generalizing data
• looking for and predicting patterns in data
• using models to explain data or make a theory
• Applying: using sources of information to help solve a problem
• using knowledge to solve problems
• applying science and math learning to current issues